Lucian, Lexiphanes, Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator), 22

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[22]

Lycinus

I will, Sopolis; and thank you for clearing the way. Now, Lexiphanes, listen to me. If you want sincere commendations upon your style, and success with popular audiences, ' give a wide berth to that sort of stuff. Make a beginning with the great poets, read them with some one to help you, then go on to the orators, and when you have assimilated their vocabulary, proceed in due time to Thucydides and Plato, not forgetting a thorough course also of pleasant Comedy and grave Tragedy. When you have culled the best that all these can show, you may reckon that you have a style. You have not realized it, but at present you are like the toymen’s dolls, all gaudy colouring outside, and inside, fragile clay.

Lexiphanes. Lucian. Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023-08-01.

Current edition Perseus

Lexiphanes (English) (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 2. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.)

Editions (1)

Λεξιφάνης Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 22 focus

Λυκῖνος

οὕτω ποιήσομεν, ὦ Σώπολι, ἐπειδήπερ ἡμῖν προωδοποίηται τὰ παρὰ σοῦ· καὶ πρὸς σὲ τὸ λοιπόν, ὦ Λεξίφανες, ἡ συμβουλή. εἴπερ ἄρʼ ἐθέλεις ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐπαινεῖσθαι ἐπὶ λόγοις κἀν τοῖς πλήθεσιν εὐδοκιμεῖν, τὰ μὲν τοιαῦτα πάντα φεῦγε καὶ ἀποτρέπου, ἀρξάμενος δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρίστων ποιητῶν καὶ ὑπὸ διδασκάλοις αὐτοὺς ἀναγνοὺς μέτιθι ἐπὶ τοὺς ῥήτορας, καὶ τῇ ἐκείνων φωνῇ συντραφεὶς ἐπὶ τὰ Θουκυδίδου καὶ Πλάτωνος ἐν καιρῷ μέτιθι, πολλὰ καὶ τῇ καλῇ κωμῳδίᾳ καὶ τῇ σεμνῇ τραγῳδίᾳ ἐγγεγυμνασμένος· παρὰ γὰρ τούτων ἅπαντα τὰ κάλλιστα ἀπανθισάμενος ἔσῃ τις ἐν λόγοις· ὡς νῦν γε ἐλελήθεις σαυτὸν τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν κοροπλάθων εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν πλαττομένοις ἐοικώς, κεχρωσμένος μὲν τῇ μίλτῳ καὶ τῷ κυανῷ, τὸ δʼ ἔνδοθεν πήλινός τε καὶ εὔθρυπτος ὤν.

Translations (1)

Lexiphanes Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 22 focus

[22]

LYCINUS

That I will, Sopolis, since you have cleared the way for me, and the advice which will follow is to your address, Lexiphanes. If you really desire to be genuinely praised for style and to have a great name among the public, avoid and shun all this sort of thing. After beginning with the best poets and reading them under tutors, pass to the orators, and when you have become familiar with their diction, go over in due time to Thucydides and Plato—but only after you have first disciplined yourself thoroughly in attractive comedy and sober tragedy. When you have garnered all that is fairest from these sources, you will be a personality in letters. Before, you had unconsciously become like the images shaped for the market by the modellers of figurines, coloured with red and blue on the surface, but clay on the inside, and very fragile.

Lucian Lexiphanes 22

Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator)

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Lycinus

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LYCINUS

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